The statement “always is always forever” is at once naive and hopeful, absurd in its redundancy yet poignant in its self-assuring confidence. This spirit resonates within the work of Chan, Momchilov, and Schlesinger, all of whom work with the notions of relationships, community, environment, the ephemeral, and the infinite.
For example, Chan and Momchilov’s work are both figurative. Their approach differs in that Chan’s work depicts friends in situations with one another while Momchilov looks for communities and people on the outskirts of society and paints them. However, both approach their subjects with a tenderness that allows the viewer to identify with the people portrayed.
Schlesinger’s work is not figurative but shares a similar approach in terms of craft – he does portraiture of objects and dwellings with an attentive eye akin to Chan and Momchilov’s.